LOCAL GOVERNMENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21359, 7 December 1932, Page 10

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The first practical step toward simplifying and reducing the cost of municipal government has been opposed by indignant protests from Auckland suburban councils, protests that were repeated by Auckland members in Parliament yesterday. The reason why the proposed legislation has aroused so much resentment in Auckland is, of course, very simple. There is greater need in Auckland for the unification of administration and there are more instances of anomalous technically independent boroughs than in any other part of the Dominion. Consequently, there are more local bodies jealous of parochial privileges and ready to encourage one another in defiance of measures threatening to curtail them. By an amendment of the existing law, the Government proposes that amalgamation of contiguous boroughs should be facilitated by submitting proposals for union to a commission of inquiry—a magistrate, the local commissioner of Crown lands and a district valuer. Upon its advice", given after hearing all interested parties, the GovernorGeneral may proclaim an amalgamation. This procedure is condemned as a contradiction of democratic principles. Yet it may be assumed that such a tribunal woxild deliver an impartial judgment. The proposition that such a judicial investigation is undemocratic is the more surprising in view of the fact that the proposed procedure and constitution of the commission are identical with those sanctioned by the existing law for the enlargement of boroughs. The essential consideration, as the Minister of Internal Affairs insisted, is that economy in local government has become imperative and that a substantial contribution toward that objective may be made by reducing the number of districts and administrations. The procedure proposed is open to the objection that it is not sufficiently comprehensive, but it at least promises a measure of reform.